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Interruptions

A sweet friend sends a daily message over the internet. She said she gets them from different places. They are meant to be uplifting, thought-provoking, and turn our eyes heavenward. I enjoy reading them each day, and sometimes they hit me right where I live.

Recently she sent this one:

“Christ comes to us in the unexpected, in the interruption and not necessarily on our schedule.”

Life’s interruptions come often, don’t they? The question is ‘what to do with them?’ You can’t go around them; can’t go over them’ can’t go under them; gotta’ go through them. Wisdom sometimes comes from a child’s game.

My Sweet William and I had an interruption this week. He went to the hospital for another knee surgery. Neither of us really knew how the day would turn out. As it turned, he spent two nights in the hospital. Definitely an interruption and not on my holiday schedule.

I am a planner, not very spontaneous. Bill helps me be a little more spur-or-the-moment than my personality tends to be. It is not natural for me to drop what I’m doing and go on an adventure.

So an interruption such as surgery the week before Christmas and two nights in the hospital really turned over my apple cart.

As I listened to the news with Bill lying in the hospital bed, I saw people in California dealing with flooding, mud slides, and houses drowning in the river of waters. I heard about someone’s sister and her husband who were hit while driving to another state to visit family. I got an email informing me a sweet elderly member of Little Flock died as a result of a fall on the ice. Another friend’s wife underwent back surgery though she didn’t know she needed until this week.

Interruptions are the stuff of life. All the planning we can possibly do will not stop the unexpected. Sometimes it is an irritation, sometimes it’s a tragedy. And sometimes it comes as a pleasant surprise and a blessing from above. Like the pre-op nurse handling Bill’s surgery preparation reminding me she had been in one of my Bible studies. Her presence gave us comfort in a stress-filled situation. Like the sweet choir member who brought lunch for the Little Flock staff on Tuesday, and there was enough left for me to eat on Wednesday. What nice interruptions.

The good news in all of this is that our God knows the end from the beginning. He is from everlasting to everlasting. What we face tomorrow, He has gone before and knows what we will need.

Proverbs holds wisdom about life’s interruptions. Chapter 16: 9 says:

“In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

Another gem is written in chapter 19:21:

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Bill’s two days in the hospital were spent with a fellow patient who had just had knee replacement surgery. He and Bill had quite a time talking, joking, laughing, and making the week before Christmas quite interesting for the orthopedic staff on duty. The nursing staff actually said these two men made their job easier with their positive attitude in spite of their pain.

Jeremiah 29:11 says: “I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future.”

Even with all the interruptions I must accept and endure, God is sovereignly planning my life for my good, for a hopeful future. I have a little card on my desk that I look at and pray, “Lord, I want to be part of Your plan today.” And I really mean it.

God interruped the world and sent His only Son in a most unexpected way. And I say, “Thank You, Lord!”